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Antz
A neurotic worker ant in love with a rebellious princess rises to unlikely stardom when he switches places with a soldier. Signing up to march in a parade, he ends up under the command of a bloodthirsty general. But he's actually been enlisted to fight against a termite army.
1998 · Directed by Eric Darnell · 83 min · Animation · Comedy · Family · Screenplay in the scene database · 6 frames
Tagline
See the world from a whole new perspective.
Plot
In a Central Park anthill, neurotic 16-year-old worker ant Z suffers an existential crisis when everyone in the colony reminds him of his insignificance. At the same time, the colony's princess Bala wants to escape her suffocating royal life. The two meet one night in a worker bar which Bala visits, where Z hears about the legendary insect paradise "Insectopia" from a retired scout. Z and Bala share a dance, after which he becomes smitten with her. Meanwhile, General Mandible - the leader of the colony's army and to whom Bala is betrothed - declares war on an encroaching termite colony. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Mandible is sending only soldier ants loyal to the colony's Queen on a suicide mission to engage the termites in order to stage a coup d'état.
Wanting to see Bala again, Z convinces his best friend Weaver, a soldier ant, to exchange places with him for the army's royal inspection. The next day, Weaver joins the digging crew and strikes up a relationship with Z's co-worker, Azteca, while Z joins the army corps and befriends staff sergeant Barbatus. Z is sent out with a platoon into battle against the termites, who slaughter all the ants except Z. After the carnage, Z finds a dying Barbatus, who tells him to think for himself instead of blindly following orders. Z returns home, where he is hailed as a war hero and is granted an audience with the Queen, where Bala recognizes him as a worker and Mandible orders him arrested. Z panics and pretends to take Bala hostage, escaping the anthill with her.
Outside the anthill, Z decides to leave in search of Insectopia, with Bala reluctantly joining him. Meanwhile, Z's act of individuality inspires the workers and some soldier ants, halting construction of Mandible's "Mega Tunnel" project. Mandible regains their loyalty by portraying Z as a self-centered war criminal, promoting the glory of conformity and promising the workers rewards for completing the Mega Tunnel. However, Mandible's second-in-command, a flying ant named Cutter, begins to doubt Mandible's constant reassurances that he is acting for the good of the colony.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, Todd Alcott
- Edited by: Stan Webb
- Music: John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams
- Production design: John Bell
- Produced by: Aron Warner, Patty Wooton, Bradford Lewis
Cast
- Woody Allen as Z-4195 “Z” (voice)
- Sharon Stone as Princess Bala (voice)
- Dan Aykroyd as Chip (voice)
- Anne Bancroft as Queen (voice)
- Danny Glover as Barbatus (voice)
- Gene Hackman as General Mandible (voice)
- Jane Curtin as Muffy (voice)
- Sylvester Stallone as Weaver (voice)
- Jennifer Lopez as Azteca (voice)
- Christopher Walken as Colonel Cutter (voice)
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Spanish
- Studios: Pacific Data Images, DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks Pictures
- Budget: $60,000,000
- Box office: $171,757,863
- Themes: princess, work, worker, hero, general, ant, villain, assignment, friends, soldier
More by Eric Darnell
On this film
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